ft 



F 




ROCKS I 



THAT 



S SHOCK 



1 





Glass ^-:^,<j'<^_ 

Book H hHb 




Rev. a. L HiLLMAN. 




SisGeverY ef Matoral BectriGitY. 



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TTTHE first discovery of the Electric Currents \\\ the stories 
1 and rocks at Hilln-jan, Ga,, was nqade by REV, A. L. 
HILLMAN, aqd th[at alone would h[ave entitled him to honor 
aqd fanqe, but qow that \\q has -nqade anoth[er discovery equally 
important l^is qame should be ir|scribed '\r\ bold letters or^ the 
roll of honor, He f|as discovered and given to the world two 
groat renqedial agencies, namely : Natural Electricity ficwiqg 
fronq a large rock, and a water wh^ich prevents aqd cures sea- 
sickness, whereby it is believed nqore humaq suffering will be 
anieliorated tl^an by any other discoveries iq the history of tlq^o 

world,— The South Atlantic. 



.Copyright, 1891, 
By a. B. HILLMAN 



i. V. VkWV ^TiXHTXH^ t(i.^ ^VtViUQW^. 



ROCKS THAT SHOCK; 



OR, THE 



Great Electrical Wonder at Hillman, Ga, 



^ / . 



BY 



A. B. HILLMAN 



ROCKS THAT SHOCK. 



CHAPTER I. 

To matter or to force 

The all is not confined ; 
Besides the law of things 

Is set the law of mind. 
One speaks in rock and star, 

And one within the brain- 
In unison at times, 

And then apart again. 
And both in one 

Has brought us hither, 
That we may know 

Oiir whence and whither, ' ' 



"And both in one has brought us hither," we repeated, as we 
alighted from the carriage that brought us to the wonderful "rocks 
that shock," at Hillman, Georgia. These rocks produce shocks 
similar to a battery, and give the same tingling sensations. 
Patients or persons who receive these shocks by sitting or standing 
by the rock frequently tremble from head to foot as if they had no 
control of themselves. From these shocks many miraculous cures 
are made. Some are cured in a few hours, some in a day, while 
others it takes weeks, and even months, to cure. Altogether these 
rocks are a great curiosity as well as a mystery, and we have come 
to see this wonder, and if we get a shock will mention it further on. 



8 

The discoveries in the field of modern medical science have 
been so profound as to lead to mysticism. Dr. Koch and his 
lymph created a ripple that ran around the whole world, and, in N'ew 
York, Dr. A. M. Phelps, professor of orthopedic surgery, in fur- 
nishing Johnny Githens with a firm shin-bone in place of an im- 
perfect one, by substituting the bone taken from the leg of a little 
dog named Gyp for the bad one provided by nature for the lad 
Johnny, also caused a profound sensation. 

But the great mystifier of the age is something that is commonly 
called electricity. It does not refuse to be bridled and made to work 
in harness, but there is yet to be found the scientist who can make 
plain the crooked paths of electricity so plain that the man who 
runs may read. And, again, it has a way of doing things of its own 
sweet will, the manner whereof passeth the ken of man. Electricity, 
for the present, seems destined to keep its secret of enormous tran- 
scendent value closely to itself, only giving to the world the boun- 
teous benefits that it alone can give as the coming universal basis 
for the cure of nearly all ailments. 

It was discovered thousands of years ago, and has been called by 
some, says Cobban, " an imponderable fluid." He prefers to call it 
"the spirit of life," and he further declares that the proper definition 
of electricity is "Energy," quoting from Arabian authority of 
ancient origin to prove this. "It flows and thrills in the nerves of 
men and women, animals and plants, throughout the whole of 
nature. It connects the entire round of Cosmos by one glowing, 
teasing, and agonizing principle of being, and makes us and beasts 
and trees and flowers all kindred ! " 

When the burden of life is made heavy by the loss of health 
and youth, and becomes intolerable, the victim naturally looks 



9 

around for some fountain at which he can drink and have the ether 
of life and nervous force renewed. De Soto thought that the foun- 
tain of youth was in Florida. He made a close guess. It is hard 
by in Georgia. 

Come, follow these lines, and "they will show the Eocks that Shock 
and give you an imperfect idea, it is true, of their wonderful powers, 
but sufficient to enable you to form an estimate of their mysterious 
works. 



CHAPTER 11. 

In the fall of 1886 the newspapers began to talk of a Georgia 
wonder that had been accidentally 'discovered on his farm by Eev. 
Andrew L. Hillman. The remarkable cures that had been made 
created a sensation in the neighborhood, and notwithstanding Mr. 
Hillman made no effort to advertise the matter, the State press com- 
mented upon the strange discovery, and enterprising correspondents 
sent the item abroad over the wires to other papers. 

The Eichmond (Virginia) Dispatch^ perhaps the most enterprising 
newspaper in the South, sent a special correspondent to the scene, 
with instructions to give the facts in the case. Here is what he 
wrote, and in this the story of the discovery of the rocks is told : 

A Wonderful Rock — Hillman^s Electric Rock Down in Georgia — Its 
Discovery, and How its Natural Shocks Give Health to the Rheu- 
matic and Dyspepic. 

[Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.] 

Sharon, Ga., February 25, 1887. 

The sudden stopping of the cars on the Atlantic Coast Line shook 
up the passengers at a wood and water station near Columbia, South 
Carolina. 

It was midnight. Those who had been dissembling sleep straight- 
ened up, as did those who really had been snoozing. Some poked 
their heads out of the windows and looked up and down the road 
in the darkness. 

" What place is this, sir ? " 

" I do not know." 

" What is the matter with that fellow yonder near the engine ? '* 



11 

" Sick, I reckon; I saw him tlirowing up wood just now." 

The drowsy monotone of voices inside the coach now sound clear 
and distinct, and in strange contrast to the clatter of the cars which 
so lately preceded it. 

" Going down to Georgia, sir ? " 

"Yes." 

"Far as Atlanta?" 

" IsTo; I stop at Sharon, on the Georgia raih'oad, and intend visit- 
ing Hillman's Electric Eock." 

" Well, I have heard a great deal ahout the place, and I am booked 
for it myself, and I am glad I met you. I am from Elizabeth, ^ew 
Jersey." 

The train pulled out and the new acquaintances talked about the 
wonders of the Electric Rock. 

LOCATION OF THE ROCK. 

Sharon was reached, and here the principal talk was about the 
Eock. 

"Going to Hillman's Eock, sir?" is the first question you are 
asked, and you are importuned by colored drivers, w^ho beg you, 
" Go wid me, boss." 

The Georgia railroad is one of the most solid in the Union, the 
stock being worth $202. The Eock is on the Washington branch 
of this road, and is distant from Sharon about three miles. A siding 
has been built, and a depot is in process of erection. This depot is 
about half a mile from the Eock, which is in Taliaferro county, 
Georgia, seven miles from Crawfordville, the home of A. H. 
Stephens, and twelve from Washington, Georgia, where General 
Eobert Toombs lived and died. 

The plantation upon which the Eock is situated consists of 2,700 
acres of very fine land, the property of Andrew L. Hillman, a Bap- 
tist minister, an active, energetic young man, who fitly represents 
the progressive spirit of the Sew South. 



12 



HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED. 



The historj^ of the discovery of the great wonder (the like of which 
has never been known) is as follows : 

Mr. Hillman is somewhat of a mineralogist, and for years has 
been sinking shafts in search of gold and alum on his place. Many 
of these attempts proved unsuccessful; but nothing daunted, in 
August, 1885, he commenced to sink a shaft at the foot of a moun- 
tain, the top of wdnch, hundreds of feet above the Shaft, is capped 
with huge borders of rock that indicated the presence of alum. The 
ascent to the top of the mountain is precipitous, but, once reached, a 
commanding view of the country for miles around is presented, and 
a more i^leasing one can hardly be found in any State. 

THE FIRST CURE. 

At the time Hillman commenced his search for alum he was in 
bad health, but his energy did not desert him. He was suffering 
from severe rheumatism and dyspepsia, and in the hope that the 
exercise would relieve him he w^ent into the shaft daily and worked 
an hour or so. A few feet from the surface a fine specimen of alum 
rock was found, and through this, w^ith the aid of drill and blast, the 
work was pushed. 

In handling the drill Hillman felt a peculiar sensation, similar to 
that experienced from a shock given by a galvanic battery. " Some- 
times," said he, " the hands could hardly hold the drill. To my 
astonishment," he continued, ''I found my dyspepsia greatly im- 
proved and my rheumatism completely gone. I persevered, and 
found myself restored to perfect health. I found water at the depth 
of fifteen feet, and cut under the mountain side of the Rock, at right 
»«ngles, a square hole in the rock, as a receptacle for the water. I 
took a medical gentleman with me to get his opinion of the matter, 
but he did not give me any very great encouragement. I went to 
Atlanta in the spring of 1886, leaving the Shaft covered. 



13 

galloway's delight. 

I returned in September, 1886, and again visited the Rock. The 
old ladder I had left in the well was almost rotten, but otherwise 
there was no difference in the looks of the place. I had been think- 
ing a great deal about the curative properties of the place as shown 
in my own case, and I thought I would make other tests of it. A 
colored man named Charles Calloway had been suffering from 
severe rheumatism. His right arm was glued to his body,' and he 
had no use of it. After a great deal of persuasion I induced him to 
go into the Shaft, and in ten days he was shoving a jack-plane. 

" There is the man now; ask him about it." 

Calloway grinned from ear to ear as he spoke of the good the 
Rock had done him. 

Similar cures of dread dyspepsia were also made. '^ The next 
man was Mr. John P. Moore, a thriving farmer of the neighbor- 
hood," said Mr. Hillman, "and he was cured completely. And 
then came Captain Joseph W. White, travelling passenger agent of 
the Georgia railroad. He was delighted with his relief from rheu- 
matism. And later, Mr. A. P. ^N'orman, assistant travelling agent, 
came down, and was made happy with the results of the visit." 

MISERABLE ACCOMMODATIONS. 

The press took hold of the matter, and sufferers from various 
States came to see the wonderful electric cure. Accommodations 
were miserable in the neighborhood, but rheumatism and dyspepsia 
made sufferers more so, and people flocked to the place. [^Teuralgia, 
rheumatism, dyspepsia, and kidney troubles fled at the touch of 
electricity and the taste of the waters of the well. Mr. Hillman had 
made a discovery that baffled science. He saw that he had found 
what the world needed sadly. He wanted to shut down the Shaft 
until he could make it sightly and comfortable to visitors. The spot 
was picturesque enough — the mountain top, forest-crested, for the 
background; smiling meadows, green-clad ; laughing streams, fringed 



14 

with alders and willows, and undulating, changeable scenery, for the 
balance of the beautiful surroundings. The woods and meadows 
were vocal with the music of birds. Stature had blessed the spot, but 
there were the rude, unsightly shanties, hastily built, that put to 
the test faith in the virtues claimed for the place. Still the people 
poured in by hundreds — many out of curiosity, others for relief. 
The latter begged Hillman not to shut down, and declared that 
they were willing to put up with anything to be cured. He con - 
sented, determining to prosecute his improvement as best he could 
under the circumstances. A force of hands was at once put to work 
to enlarge the Shaft to such dimensions as would accommodate the 
people. A contract was made with the Schofield Brothers, the 
celebrated hotel men of Augusta. They will build a fine hotel on 
the mountain top, and prepare for the comfort of all who visit the 
Rock. The land adjacent to the hotel has been surveyed and laid 
ofiT into lots, and it is no fool's guess that in a few years a thriving 
village will take the place of the tall foresters and bleak surround- 
ings there now. 

A VISIT TO THE ROCK. 

The first time I saw the Rock was on a rainy morning last week, 
l^ear a rude frame shanty, under the tall trees of the swamp, miles 
from any other habitation, stood a number of vehicles. Several 
horses were tied to the swinging limbs of the trees. Men with that 
peculiar melancholy look that denotes suffering from protracted 
disease were standing in knots close by the shanty; others were 
inside sitting around a stove ; a lady neatly dressed stood in the 
doorway. A force of hands was digging with pick and spade a 
huge gap in the mountain side. The dew was glittering on the 
morning grass, and the mists were curling close to the tree-tops. 

I went down a flight of steps and stood in the Shaft. Six men 
were sitting on splint-bottom chairs, silent and motionless. Four 
moist walls rose above them fifteen feet. The sides of these walls 
consisted of a curious-looking rock, a mixture of gray and red col- 



15 

ors and an occasional vein of white. The light came dimly from 
above through panes of glass. 

" Come down and take a seat, sir," said one of the men. I found 
my way to a seat and commenced to talk to the sufferers. 

One of them, Mr. Hammonds, of Abbeville, S. C, could scarcely 
walk with the aid of crutches. He had suffered with rheumatism 
for fifteen years. Two days from the time I saw him he had thrown 
away his crutches and could leap nimbly from his buggy. This is 
only one of many cases of similar sort. 

I had been in the Shaft but a short time before I felt the peculiar 
tingling sensations caused by electricity. My limbs began to shake 
and the perspiration to flow. 

THE TREATMENT, ETC. 

I went out satisfied that there was something wonderful in the 
Rock, but I could not explain it. 

As dark and dismal as the place is now, numbers of ladies and 
gentlemen spend the night at the Shaft, some of them sleeping in 
it, while the frogs pipe their spring love-songs and the hooting owl 
indulges in his idiotic laugh close by. 

In course of time Hillman will be prepared to accommodate the 
public properly. Then he will be glad to see them. At present he 
tries to keep people away, but they come all the same. 

Letters pour in to him from every State in the Union asking for 
particulars about this truly great Georgia wonder. P. J. B. 

It will be observed that the correspondent alluded to the damp 
and dismal nature of the surroundings. All of these have disap- 
peared before the strides of improvement. The hand of magic has 
been at work, and of this work further on more will be said of a 
descriptive sort. Then, again, the correspondent called the place 
"a shaft," but as the force of imponderable fluid was given out by 
the rocks, visitors have given a more appropriate name — "Rocks 
that Shock." 



CHAPTER III. 

The spirit of research and improvement has permeated the age 
and manifests itself in every phase of life. Anything unknown or 
undiscovered must forthwith be investigated by this practical genera- 
tion. Accordingly, curious people with plenty of means went dow^n 
to Mr. Hillman's Georgia farm to see for themselves the wonders of 
his electrical discovery. They w^ere convinced that what had been 
said did not in any wise exaggerate facts. They found Mr. Hillman 
a quiet young Baptist minister, with a big plantation, and a plenty of 
this world's goods to satisfy his wants. lie was generous, hospitable, 
and talked out freely. His mind was well stored with abundant 
information on other subjects as well as theology, and his visitors 
were w^ell satisfied that the field for investment in these Rocks that 
Shocked with the unseen and subtle agency called electricity was 
full of promise of a rich reward. 

A company was formed ; a hotel of pleasing appearance and ample 
dimensions capped the summit of the mountain ; close to the rail- 
road a depot was erected, a post-office established, and the name 
"Hillman" given to the place, which now began to assume the airs 
of a village. Hillman was also the name given the post-office. The 
chain and compass of the civil engineer was called into use, and 
graded walks and roads swept in gentle circles around the mountain 
to the top of it. The axe was laid to such trees as marred the view, 
the marsh lands were drained, and a neat and commodious reception 
room built at the Rock. Visitors came in from the frozen regions 
of the North and West, and from all parts of the sunny South, and 
in all cases — even chronic ones of Ions standing: — received substantial 



17 

relief or permanent cure. Science so far has been unable to tell 
exactly what electricity is. The difficulties of ascertaining this are 
peculiarly intense, because the only testimony in regard to the 
phenomena in question has to be obtained from those who are, or 
have been, under its influence. 



The discovery so close to his doors of this Electric Rock provoked 
the following editorial from the pen of the great Georgia editor, 
Henry W. Grady, under the caption above given. He said : 

"Electrical science is making wonderful progress, but no one has 
ever been able to tell just what electricity is, nor have its remarkable 
manifestations ever been explained. 

"Every day we read of some odd development of this mysterious 
force. Now it is the electric girl in Georgia, w^ho shocks everything 
that she touches; and, again, we have the astonished gentleman in 
Kentucky, who found upon stripping himself that he was a veri- 
table pillar of flame, blazing up so brilliantly that he was able to 
read fine print by the light of his own countenance, to say nothing 
of the remainder of his tout ensemble, so to speak. 

" We laugh at such freaks, and have our doubts, and yet there is 
nothing new in all this. In old times equally astonishing discov- 
eries were made. Tiberius had a freedman who used an electrical 
fish to cure him of the gout. An ancient philosopher found that 
while he was undressing his body emitted crackling sparks and 
blazed out into a flame, after the fashion of the Kentuckian. For 
thousands of years people regarded electricity as a fantastic, uncer- 
tain, and amusing thing. Men played tricks with pieces of amber 
and glass tubes, and the Englishman who used to pull oft' his silk 
stockings to see them rush together when they were of difterent 
colors, and fly from each other when they were of the same color, 
was regarded as a very profound scientist. 



18 

" Century after century passed, and no successful attempt was 
made to utilize this powerful force. Men found out that it existed 
in their own bodies, in various objects, in the air and in the earth, 
but they did not know what to do with it. Within the past two 
generations we have made this tricksy spirit carry our messages, 
furnish our light, and move our machinery and railway trains; but 
we are merely at the beginning of our work. We know that 
this force can be made to serve us and destroy us. It will strike us 
dead, or it will cure us of our bodily ills. But, so far as under- 
standing the mystery of it all is concerned, we are no better off 
than were the people thousands of years ago who were wondering 
at their snapping, crackling hair, and their luminous legs. It is 
about the biggest thing that we ever tackled, and in the course of 
time it is destined to do all of our work, except our brain work. 
But, after all, what is it ? " 

The editor of the Constitution followed this, after a visit to the 
Rock, with an editorial, which reads : 

'^THE ELECTRICITY OF GEORGIA. 

" The State of Georgia seems to take the lead in developing 
electric phenomena. 

*' Only a short time since Miss Lula Hurst startled the world with 
a wonderful and unexplained electric power that had been quietly 
developed in a peaceful Georgia home. She made money, and 
finally married and settled down to enjoy the fruits of electricity at 
the old homestead. The excitement about her wonderful power is 
still fresh in the recollection of our people, and another wonder in 
Georgia over electricity comes squarely before the public to be 
investigated and criticised. 

" In Taliaferro county, between Barnett and Washington, about 
three miles from Sharon, on the west side of the Washington 
branch road and adjoining the railroad, is a large hill — they call it a 
mountain in the neighborhood. The owner of the land on this hill, 



19 

in mining for alum a short time since, found on sinking a shaft 
about ten feet deep and eight feet in diameter, that there was a 
strong electric current given out on the surface of the pit next to 
the mountain. He also found that one of the laborers, who was 
afflicted with rheumatism when he commenced to excavate, had also 
recovered from his attack of rheumatism. He soon found other cases 
of rheumatism in this neighborhood and tried them in his new pit. 
They were speedily cured, and now everybody with rheumatism in 
the neighborhood and all over the State is flocking there to be 
cured. Fully half who go get relief, and there is, consequently, a 
sensation equal to the Lula Hurst excitement in store for this 
electric show. What affinity there is between alum rock and 
electricty we are unable to say, and how this wonderful current is 
stored in the ground to be used for a thousand purposes we cannot 
understand; but there it is without doubt, performing wonderful 
cures, even in its crude state — in the hands of men who are not at 
all skilled in its use — and ready at any moment to develop into some- 
thing miraculous as soon as it can be trained by scientific hands. 

" Cannot we find among the sons of Georgia one man who can 
explain these wonderful curiosities of nature in our State? E'ature 
seems impatient at concealing them so long. They will be discov- 
ered and utilized, and the man who moves on these secrets first and 
utilizes them will be as great a hero in the future as Franklin and 
Morse." 

The owner of the land mentioned is Rev. Andrew L. Hillman. 
He discovered the rock, named it the Electric Eock, is utilizing it, 
and no scientist so far has been able to contradict his theory by sup- 
plying a better name. 

SEEING IS BELIEVING. 

The Atlanta Constitution sent a special correspondent down to 
Hillman to write up the new discoveries. Here is what he pub- 
lished : 



20 

HiLLMAN, Ga., March 17, 1888. 

" You cannot argue away these crutches, for here they are." 

The speaker was Mr. Curley, of Rochester, ]^ew York. The 
place was perhaps the most remarkable spot in America. 

Just view the scene. Three dry rooms, with the walls of rock and 
dirt exposed ; around these walls long benches crowded with peo- 
ple holding their hands as if in pious exhortation against the dirt ; 
some standing with their backs against the rock and their hands 
behind their coats, as a well-to-do man warms himself at a fire; 
some shaking as if in hysteria; some perfectly stiff, with an expres- 
sion of inquiry on the face as if listening to distant thunder — all 
absorbed and in wrapt contemplation. 

It is the Electric Rock of Georgia, or, we might say, the Electric 
Rock of the world, for there is no other. From the depths of this 
rock and dirt, is given out some quality — magnetism, electricity, 
mesmerism, or what not — that effects visibly about two-thirds of the 
people who lay their hands against it. It is said that during a thun- 
der storm the face of this Rock is livid with lightning. 

But, to go back to Mr. Curley. He says : 

" I came here two weeks ago on those crutches. The visitors 
here know that I was barely able to drag myself on crutches from 
the carriage to the steps. I now walk with this slender cane with 
the slightest difiiculty. I have no theory, but I have a fact. I had 
rheumatism when I came here; now I am going to leave with- 
out it." 

'* How did you happen to come? " 

" I have had rheumatism for ten years. It has defied all treat- 
ment. I spent this winter in Cuba, where the atmostphere was dry 
and warm. I was leisurely making my way back I^Torth, and 
stopped in Augusta. I heard of this Electric Rock. I came here 
hobbling on crutches and tortured with pain. This afternoon I have 
walked about with you gentlemen, and none of you could tell that 
I ever had rheumatism. I am well." 

Now, many of the wise physicians who heard this story declared 



21 

that rheumatism cannot be cured in two weeks bj any sort of medi- 
cine. The reply to this might be, that the Electric Rock is not 
medicine. Dr. Westmoreland, who was very much interested in 
the case, and who examined Mr. Curley thoroughly, insisted that 
he never had rheumatism, but that it was a nervous affection; to 
which Mr. Curley replied, that it had been a disabling and torturing 
misery for ten years, and that the best physicians in the North had 
pronounced it rheumatism, and that the Electric Eock had cured it. 
'^ However," he said, reflectively, " of course I do not blame the 
medical profession for doubting that a rock in the ground is better 
than a doctor." 

TESTING ITS POWER. 

It is a queer thing to hear the patients talk. Man after man 
stands up and tells you that he came there absolutely disabled from 
rheumatism, and that he leaves there perfectly well. They seem to 
be satisfied to accept this fact, without trying to explain it, but faith- 
fully stand by their works. Go to the Rock w^hen you will, you will 
find them hugging the walls with the devotion of a saint against a 
shrine. All night long they will la}- against the damp rock, and 
emerge from it when the sun clears the horizon. 

A marked manifestation of the power of the electric room, 
whether imaginary or real, was furnished by two ladies. They were 
of high character and intelligence. Upon placing their hands 
against the wall their pulse accelerated, their hands trembled until 
in a few moments the quiver ran up the arms, and extended through 
the body. Then they shook uncontrollably, every nerve and every 
muscle quivering until it was almost painful to see them. Physician 
after physician took hold of their hands, held their shoulders, and 
attempted to control them, but fifty men could not have stilled that 
unaccountable quivering and shaking. They finall}^ left the wall 
and were taken into the upper pavillion, and the physicians took 
hold of their hands again and tried to quiet them, but without avail. 
Dr. Devine stated that the pupil of the eye of one of them failed to 



22 

respond to the light when turned towards it. Each of the ladies 
answered questions in a hurried sort of voice, tremulous with emo- 
tion, and there was neither cessation or relief until they had fallen 
asleep and slept it off as they would have done with a powerful 
medicine. 

What was it? Hysteria, some of the physicians said. Perhaps 
it was, but it was produced whenever they put their hands against 
the wall, and it subsided just when the body, apparently charged 
with electricity, had apparently regained equilibrium. 

On one of the benches in one of the apartments sat an intelligent 
young man, who watched the proceedings with interest. It was Mr. 
McCall, editor of the Union Spring Herald, m Alabama. Mr. Mc- 
Call had no theory about the Rock, but he had a fact. " I came 
here," he said, '' eight days ago, bent up with rheumatism. I am 
going to leave here to-morrow for my home perfectly well. I cannot 
explain it, but I know it." 

Mr. McCall stated that on the first of the year he was invited to 
a leap year ball. He was getting ready for it when he was seized 
with reumatism in his knees and his elbows. This clearly incapaci- 
tated him for participation in the festivities. The rheumatism in 
his elbows would prevent his holding his partner in the dance, while 
the rheumatism in his knees would have prevented him threading 
with her the mazy waves of the waltz. He, therefore — properly, we 
think — staid at home. *' From that time forward I was the victim of 
rheumatism," said Mr. McCall. " I could not attend to my busi- 
ness, and I was in constant pain. I had the best physicians I could 
get. I finally read' about the Electric Rock in the Constitution^ and 
made up my mind to try it. 

CONVINCED BEYOND CAVIL. 

"My friends laughed at the idea, but I came ahead, and I am 
cured. I do not know what cured me, but here I am," and with a 
vigorous swing of his arms and a gentle pirouette of his legs, Mr. 
McCall gave evidence that he was on deck for the next leap-year ball. 



23 

^'For the first day," he said, ''after getting here I felt nothing. 
I stayed in the room all day, and pretty much all night, and beyond 
a little tingling sensation now and then there was nothing. But I 
thought I would try it another day. The next day my pain de- 
creased. I would frequently sit six hours in th'e room without 
moving, either reading or writing, and in a week I was perfectly 
free from pain, and, I believe, permanently cured of rheumatism. 
At first I was discouraged. It appeared to me that a well man 
would catch rheumatism by sitting in there, but I have seen the 
most delicate ladies, who would not dare to get their feet damp, 
come and sit here by the hour in all sorts of weather, and I have 
never heard of one catching cold yet. On the contrary, it is the 
almost universal testimony that there is a glow about the feet, and 
a considerable warming up of the body, the longer one sits here. 
This applies in winter as well as summer." 

Many people are not affected at all by the Kock. They go in as 
skeptics, and come out confirmed in their skepticism. 'No one knows 
what the power of the Rock is. Many scientific men pronounce it 
chimerical to talk about it; but there are cures. All the science in 
America, for instance, cannot convince Mr. McCall, of the Union 
Springs Herald, that the Electric Rock cannot cure rheumatism, for 
the simple reason that it did cure Mr. McCall. 

VISITORS HERE. 

^ Colonel C. H. Phinizy^ president of the Georgia railroad, went 
up from Augusta in his private car with his wife, Major John W, 
Green and wife, Colonel and Mrs. J. W. White, Mr. T. R. Gibson, 
Miss Lillie White, Dr. Eugene Foster, Dr. W. H. Dougherty, Jr., 
and Mr. T. P. Henry. Colonel P. Walsh came up on a later train. 
Washington's delegation was: Mr. J. A. Benson, Mr. R. T. Du 
Bose, Mr. William M. Sims, Hon. F. H. Colley, Mr. Thomas C. 
Hogue, Miss IN'ora Palmer, Miss Mary Hardeman, Hon. M. P. 
Reese, Rev. J. E. Hammond, and Messrs. W. C. Cade, William H. 
Anthony, N. H. Pope, T. Burwell Green, and G. W. Mulligan. 



24 

The Atlanta party was composed of the following ladies and gen- 
tlemen : Captain and Mrs. Evan P. Howell and daughter, Mr. Henry 
"W". Grady, ex-Governor R. B. Bullock, Dr. Willis F. Westmore- 
land, Mr. G. H. Yining (of the Evening Cajntol), Dr. T. S. Powell, Dr. 

E. J. Roach, Dr. C. A. Stiles, Dr. P. E. Murry,Dr. John Z. Lawshe, 
Dr. K. C. Devine, Dr. W. A. Crow, Dr. Willis B. Parks, Dr. H. F. 
Scott, Dr. A. G. Thomas, Dr. J. C. Avery, Dr. W. M. Durham, Dr. 

F. H. O'Brien, and Messrs. W. J. Cole, J. A. McDonald, and Dr. 
S. T. Diggers. 

From Athens: Prof, and Mrs. H. C. White, Mr. Samuel C. Ben- 
edict, Mrs. C. D. Flanigan, and Messrs. E. D. Stone, J. S. K. Axson, 
and Albert Howell, Jr. 

The other guests were: Messrs. F. M. Delano and J. L. Carle- 
ton, of New York; Dr. R. C. Word, of Decatur; Dr. B. B. Lenoir, 
of Lenoir, Tenn.; Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Bane, of Chicago; Dr. J. W. 
Bailey, of Gainesville ; Mr. W. F. Xenfield, of San Francisco, and 
Messrs. M. G. Sharon and J. G. Wright, of Ragtown. 

TO BE THOROUGHLY TESTED. 

Of course it was not possible in the short time for the visitors on 
this trip to give an accurate opinion about the effect of the resort on 
certain diseases. It was not intended for that, but simply to draw 
the attention of the scientific and medical men in this State to what 
was there and its results. Messrs. Delano, Carleton, and Cole, the 
electricians of the party, will, as soon as possible, procure a galvanic 
meter and make a thorough test of the electric qualities of the place. 
The proprietors, we are informed, will ask the Georgia Medical 
Association, at its annual meeting in May at Rome, to appoint a 
committee of leading physicians to make a thorough test of the 
benefits claimed, and that this committee be empowered to see 
what, if any, remedy there is for any of the various diseases claimed 
to be cured. They claim that there have been many wonderful 
cures of nervous diseases. They claim further, that many persons 
who go there with a normal pulse, say seventy-eight or eighty, after 



25 

being in there for a short time, without any exertion, will find their 
pulse go up to one hundred and two and one hundred and four, or 
even higher sometimes, and in other cases the reverse will occur. 
In some cases there will be a perceptible shaking of the whole per- 
son, and in others it will not be felt. As Colonel Ben C. Yancey, 
who is there with his wife, spending a week, says : " There is some 
kind of force there, and it is unknown, and the scientific and med- 
ical men ought to be able to work it out. I cannot," says Colonel 
Yancey, "say whether it is electricity or what it is, because I do 
not know. This much I can say, there is some unknown force dis- 
played there, and it is an interesting chapter, in my opinion, for 
scientific men to explain." 

Dr. B. B. Lenoir, of Lenoir, Tenn.,is there, and will remain over 
for a week. Miss Millie Rutherford, with her mother, Mrs. William 
Eutherford, was there last week, and returned home Saturday. 
Several of the physicians will make further test by sending patients 
they think will be benefited. 



CHAPTER lY. 

A Second Visit to Hilhnan, Georgia — A Double Attraction at the Place. 

Quite a year has passed since our first visit to Hillman, and, as we 
expected, found the place greatly improved. But the greatest attrac- 
tion we found was Mr. Hillman's latest discovery of another 

GRAI^D ELECTRIC ROCK 

on the south side of the Electric Mountain. Since his discovery of 
the first rock he has been closely inspecting the surroundings of this 
marvellous place, and finding an immense rock a quarter of an acre 
long, containing the same mineral, he engaged a prospector, a miner, 
and some workmen, and commenced an excavation on the south 
side of the rock. After cutting some three or four feet into the rock 
the miner seated himself to make an experiment, and was so severely 
shocked he called to the workmen to come and help him out, and 
the man who took hold of his hands to help him out received a 
severe shock also. 

Then Mr. Hillman was thoroughly convinced of the true virtue 
of this Rock. He then continued the excavation until he got it 
about a medium size room. All the time the men were working in 
it they would get so full of electricity they would have to go out 
and a new set go in, thus alternating until completed. Then carpen- 
ters finished up the whole with the needed wood work, such as 
floors, windows, doors, reception room, and a neat little porch. It 
was very noticeable that all the men who worked in and about this 



Rock greatly improved in health and had enormous appetites, and 
said they felt so strong and active they wanted to sing and dance. 

Visitors from the north Electric Rock and the hotel would flock 
around to see the new great wonder, often asking Mr. Hillman for 
some of the rock chipped from the excavation. They would say, as 
they held the pieces in their hands, *' Oh, I can feel it; I can feel 
the electricity even in this piece of rock. Do let us carry some 
home " — which many did. 

Mrs. S. M. Dawson, the lovely wife of the lamented Captain 
Dawson, of Charleston, South Carolina, came to Hillman for treat- 
ment, accompanied by her son Warrenton. She came around to the 
south side Rock during its excavation, and Mr. Hillman gave her 
some of the rocklets. As she held them in her hand she exclaimed, 
" Oh, what a treasure; I can feel the electricity so acutely in these 
little rocks. What a power that large one must be." 

She carried them home, and soon after made a visit to New York, 
taking them with her. She wrote Mr. Hillman that her 'New York 
friends were greatly enthused over the little electric rocks she carried 
from Hillman, and that they had begged every one of them from 
her. Mrs. Dawson was interviewed by a reporter of the Charleston 
News and Courier. She told him the great virtue in this rock was 
beyond the comprehension of scientific men, and that marvellous 
things would be heard from it. 

Visitors and patients were anxious to see this second wouder com- 
pleted and the room ready to seat patients; and when Mr. Hillman 
was ready to receive the patients, the patients were ready to receive 
the electricity, and it was wonderful to see the effect it had on them. 
Sometimes very excitable scenes would take place. Some patients 
would have to be taken out on account of becoming overcharged ; 



28 

some would be so pleasantly shocked they would be laughing, while 
with others it was the great expectation of getting a big shock. 

We remember several of them, which we will mention, to show 
the peculiarity of cases. One of the overcharged patients was Miss 
Fannie Pouser, of South Carolina. She was quite an invalid, and 
was reclining on a cot in the electric room. Several patients were 
in the room at the same time, among them Mrs. Summerall, of 
Augusta, who was engaged in pleasant conversation with Miss 
Fannie. They had been talking some time when Mrs. Summerall 
noticed that Miss Pouser did not reply; she hastened to her and 
found the young lady unconscious. Some gentlemen took her up, 
cot and all, and ran out of the room, when she soon revived, and was 
so pleased to know she had at last received a shock. She had been a 
patient for two weeks and had so often wished for a shock, believing 
it would benefit her so much, and it really did. 

Another patient who created quite an excitement from becoming 
overcharged was Mr. B. F. Cannon, of Alabama. He was a wreck 
from rheumatism, and unable to walk, but hopeful of recovery. He 
took the electricity well, and was finally overcharged and unconscious 
for half an hour, and afterwards when he felt the shock coming on 
he would tell the porter George to take him out. He would send 
George to the post-oifice every day for his mail, but after being 
overcharged he would always say, " Don't go and leave me in here, 
George; lift me into the sitting-room until you return." The 
strangest part about these shocks is, the patients crave them, and 
they always get better after getting them ; and those who wait on 
Dr. Rock (as they sometimes call the Electric Rock), and fail to get a. 
shock, would not fail to worry and fret, and woe to the discoverer at 
such times because he did not discover a " Lightning rock that would 



29 

flash the lightmng into" them at once. Yet many take it so gradu- 
ally they get well and never get the shock, and often get well after 
getting home. 

We might as well tell of our experience, too, and test of this south 
side Eock : We were seated in the electric-room in a lively conver- 
sation with some ladies, when all at once we felt ourselves shaking 
without the least effort on our part. We looked around, and asked 
who was shaking the floor ? ^o one, they all replied. Well, what 
is the matter with us ? we asked. Oh, you are having a shock, they 
exclaimed, greatly amused at our bewilderment. We quickly 
left the room, feeling as light as air, and went out and stayed 
awhile, or until the sensation left us ; and on returning, the identical 
influence would take hold of us again ; so we sat in the doorway of 
the electric-room and continued our chat. 

We had another experience with this scmie Bock. We had been 
suffering for several weeks with rheumatism. We took two hours' 
treatment by standing by the Rock one hour each day for two con- 
secutive days, and we were cured. 

This made a much deeper impression on us than to see others 
cured, for no one can conceive the remarkable relief but the suffer- 
ing individual who gives this mystery a personal test. 

We will mention the case of Mrs. Yerderey, a charming lady from 
the sand hills of Augusta : She came with her husband and mother, 
and had scarcely been in the electric-room half an hour before she 
was in a perfect tremor from head to foot. She trembled and shook 
so severely that her husband and mother became alarmed, but after 
leaving the room for a short while the shock soon left her. 

An amusing case of a young man was told to us by some of the 
patients. He was a gay young fellow, and came in and asked what 



30 

he must do to get a shock. Put your hands on the Rock, said an 
old gentleman. All right; I want a shock ; I want to know how 
it feels. He stood by the Rock and placed his hands on it, and 
pretty soon he knew how it felt, and also how he felt. He sprang 
away from the Rock and made for the door, and could not he in- 
duced to return. 

Why is this Rock so powerful ? is often asked of Mr. Hillman, and 
his supposition is, that being on the south side of the mountain the 
hot rays of the sun aid in generating electricity. 

Further on in these notes we will mention some remarkable cures 
made in this south-side electric-room. As we have said, this Rock 
is a quarter of an acre long, very tall, and immense. It lies at the 
foot of the mountain, with lovely scenery all around. The north 
electric rock is a pretty place also, and has often been described by 
other writers. 



CHAPTER Y. 



On this south side of the mountain Mr. Hillman made two other 
very remarkable discoveries. One is the Magic Well ; the other is 
the ]^ausea-Cure Spring. The magic water has derived its name from 
the magical effects it has on curing the worst cases of dyspepsia and 
indigestion. 

The Kausea-Cure Spring is a great wonder. It is a specific for 
nausea, but the patient has to take it in small doses, or it will pro- 
duce nausea. As the homceopathists say, similia similibus ciirantiir. 
It cures cholera morbus, cholera infantum, and other ailments, and 
is a fine table water also. 

Knowing this w^ater was so fine for nausea, Mr. Hillman conceived 
the idea that it would also cure seasickness, and prevailed on several 
distinguished families and physicians to test it oil the ocean, which 
they did with great success for seasickness. 

This spring has been capitalized at ^150,000, a company organ- 
ized, with Dr. J. E. Green, of Augusta, Ga., president; Major Wm. 
Gary, Kev. A. L. Hillman, C. W. Conway, and others, stockhold- 
ers. The place is becoming very famous, and we see many people 
here from far and from near, and nowhere have we ever seen 
strangers so kindly disposed. Each seemed to vie with the other in 
courtesy and kindness, in sympathy and soothing words. It must 
be that " fellow suffering made them wonderous kind." 

Some of the patients said they really believed there was some 
magical influence around the place, or in the Electric Eock, that 



32 

brought about such kind and pleasant sociability. Be that as it may, 
we have always found nice, agreeable visitors at this "unique 
resort." We say unique, because it really seems that this place is 
without a parallel. We have heard it said that nature provides a 
remedy for every ailment of Adam's race, and that we will, sooner 
or later, find it if we search for it, and it really seems that Mr. Hill- 
man has been guided by providence to find it at this place — for a 
great many, at least. 

Many different experiences were told us, and as we recall some of 
them to mind, we think them worth relating. 

A very wealthy lady was seated in the electric-room, and during 
a pleasant conversation Avith her she said : I was at the Hot Springs, 
Arkansas, some time ago for my health, and while taking one of 
those "hot baths" the nurse allowed me to remain in the bath a few 
minutes too long, which threw me into a congested state, and caused 
my circulation to be so sluggish that I suffer all the time with cold 
feet and hands, and nothing else relieves me like the treatment taken 
at this Electric Rock. After being here several days my feet and 
hands become warm and the circulation is so much better that it 
it improves my health generally. When my physician finds he can- 
not relieve me he tells me to go to Hillman ; that there is something- 
there that benefits me more than he can. 

Another experience was a minister's daughter, who said when she 
arrived at the Electric Rock that her case was considered almost 
hopeless by her friends, and even her father despaired of her ever 
getting well. But, said she, I am so much better. The swelling 
has gone down, caused from liver trouble, and now I can lie on my 
back and sleep so sweetly all night ; and I am so much stronger I 
can walk up this mountain. 



33 

A gentleman from Alabama was the next. He had been an in- 
valid for nineteen years, suffering excruciating pain all the time 
from rheumatism, but he was a patient sufferer and devout Chris- 
tian, who took his affliction so resignedly we could only think 
nothing but the grace of God enabled him to stand it so well. In 
speaking of his affliction he said : Through many trials, tribula- 
tions, and suffering we are called before we can gain an entrance 
into the "Kingdom of kingdoms." He seemed never to doubt 
his recovery, as he sat day after day in the electric-room, and 
at times becoming overcharged with electricity would have to 
be taken out and brought back alternately, until he was fully 
charged with the virtue of the Rock. In nine weeks he re- 
turned home, free from pain, and his general health greatly im- 
proved. 

Mr. McLaughlen, of South Carolina, a very excellent gentleman, 
was also a patient with a severe case of rheumatism in his chest and 
shoulders, and had previously been so ill he had to be taken to 
Florida on a bed. He recovered sufficiently to attend to his busi- 
ness in the bank, but never well of rheumatism till he took treat- 
ment in the electric-room. His sister was with him at the same 
time, suffering with " compressed nerves of the ankles for twenty 
years." She was cured, and said that alone rewarded her for her 
visit to the Electric Rock. 

We met Mr. Hawkins, of Beach Island, S. C. He went into the 
electric-room, and in less than ten minutes he was so affected by the 
electricity that he had to come out immediately. In about two 
hours he went back, and stayed fifteen minutes. We saw him 
coming out with a flushed face and in a profuse perspiration, saying 
he felt decidedly better. He came for nervous treatment ; said his 



34 

nerves were in an awful shattered condition. After remaining sev- 
eral days he felt greatly restored and much benefited. 

And here, too, was Mrs. Dr. George, from Enterprise, Mississippi. 
She said her health was altogether broken down, and she was confined 
to her bed. Her husband had concluded to send her to the Hot 
Springs, Arkansas. She had her trunks packed to leave for that 
place, when one of her sons came home and told her he had met 
with a patient from the Electric Rock who had been cured there, 
and who spoke in the highest praise of its virtues. He advised her 
to go to the Rock. So, in company with one of her sons, she visited 
the Electric Rock, and, said she, I am so glad I came here. I like 
so much, and I feel so much better. In a few days we saw her 
again proudly walking down the steps into the electric-room with- 
out assistance, saying, " Oh, how glad I am that I can help myself" 
She was wonderfully beneffited, and was delighted at her great im- 
provement. 

The case of a gentleman from Augusta, Georgia, was still more 
wonderful. He was confined to his bed with a severe case of rheu- 
matism, and tortured with the most racking pains. The first day 
he was brought to the Rock he was considerably benefited, and 
could walk on his crutches. The second day he was so much better 
he could walk a short distance without them, and the third day we 
saw him get out of the phaeton and walk into the house as well as 
ever. This gentleman was one of those who take the electricit}^ 
quickly and successfully — consequently made a rapid cure ; while 
others take it slowly but surely, and in due course of time make fine 
cures. 

We were so much pleased with pretty Mrs. Porter, from Florida, 
a quiet, dignified lady, and a great sufferer, like many of her sex. 



35 

She looked so sad and despairing when she came ; so glad and re- 
joicing when she left. She told us she had been so wonderfully 
relieved that she wept tears of joy at her miraculous restoration. 

Another lady as lovely as she — Mrs. Dillon, from Thomas ville — 
suffered similarly, and told us she had not walked for years. She 
could walk very well when she left the 'Rock, and was much im- 
proved in health. 

This wonderful Electric Rock has called forth a great deal of com- 
ment from learned and scientific men, and they seem more or less 
in the dark regarding its curative or remedial agencies, while all 
agree it is the work of nature, and wish to get at it in a more tangi- 
ble form. 

We quote Tyndall as saying: "Science ought to teach us to see 
the invisible as well as the visible in nature; to picture to our 
mind's eye those operations that entirely elude the eye of the body; 
to look at the very atoms of nature in motion and in rest, and follow 
them forth into the world of senses." 

Emerson says : " ^Nature is a reservoir of power. Tremendous 
forces are all about us, but they are not adopted to our use." 

Another writer says : " The forces of nature are strangely linked 
with our lives. Everywhere a Divine hand is developing ideas ten- 
derly and Avonderously related to human needs." 

To the thoughtful mind all phenomena have a hidden meaning. 
It is the invisible nature of this Rock that mystifies one so. We 
walk into the electric-room and look around, wishing to see and 
know what is in this Rock that affords some such relief All have 
similar ideas. It is amusing to see strangers come in the electric- 
room and look around and up at the rock wall. They almost 
feel alarmed, saying: "Will it knock me down if I put my hand 



30 

on it ? '' Some seem to think they might be shocked as if by light- 
ning. 

Many enjoy the new departure of pills, powders, and patent med- 
icines, and to leave at home the miniature drugstore for the easy 
and effective remedy of nature. If one would wait on nature more, 
and assist it with some simple home remedy, it would save many a 
sick spell and dear doctor's fee. 

Many of the patients at the Electric Rock said they had spent 
nearly all they possessed on the doctors, and when their skill was 
exhausted they would kindly advise them to go to the Electric 
Rock. 

One lady we saw from Chicago said she had spent thousands of 
dollars on the doctors, gaining but little relief from her painful 
malady — sciatica. She is still very wealthy, her husband being a 
millionaire, and owning an immense mine in Georgia. He sent her 
to give the Electric Rock a trial. She had no relief fr*om pain day 
or night, and often through the night would scream in agony from 
pains in her limbs. She came, and, greatly to her surprise and de- 
light, she was soon so benefited that she could rest well at night, 
and only once during her stay did she have any symptom of the 
pains. When she left she spoke in the highest terms of the curative 
powers of the Electric Rock and her pleasant sojourn at Hillman. 

A good many doctors have visited the Electric Rock for their own 
personal benefit, and some of them are nature's noblemen — good, 
strong-minded men. Often they were much benefited, and did not 
hesitate to give the Rock due credit for their improvement. Ah, 
we wish it could have done more for these good men — made them 
young again. It is so sad to see them growing old and feeble in 
their noble work of serving the sick. 



37 

Mr. Finney, from Jones count}^, Georgia, told us he came with a 
fearful headache. Said he : " My head has hurt me so much 1 am 
nearly deaf." "Are you any better?" we asked. '^ Oh, yes; my 
head is quite easy now, and I feel quite improved, though I have not 
felt the electricity, that I know of; but something has helped me." 
"You took it, then, and, like many others, was not aware of it," we 
replied." " Yes ; I guess so," and continued he, " I have great faith 
in it. My wife was down here last year, and was shocked every 
time she put her hand on the rock wall, and would be thrown in a 
perfect quiver. She carried some of the rock dug out of the electric 
room with her home, and although it has been a year since she did 
it, it will shock her now when she takes it in her hand, and set her 
to trembling and shaking at once, while I can't feel it at all. We 
must be very differently constituted. It is a mystery to me that 
both of us should be so benefitted and our experience so dissimilar." 
We told him that it was nothing new to us. We knew of many 
such cases at this most singular of places. 

One of the most wonderful cases that came under our observation 
was that of an old colored man, Wiley, whom the doctors pronounced 
physically sound. He has lived on the Hillman farm for twenty-odd 
years, and still lives in a few hundred yards of the Electric Eock. 
It has a powerful efiect on him when he merely enters the electric- 
room, shaking him up to such an extent that he is sore for several 
days after. 

On one occasion Dr. Sheppard, of Cincinnati, Ohio, timed him by 
his watch. He was in the electric-room one minute, when he asked 
to be taken out. They quickly helped him out, and he shook and 
trembled for several hours after. The Doctor examined him, and 
said if he were to remain in the electric-room long enough it would 



38 

kill him, so well does the electricity take to him. He is very much 
opposed to going in again, and it would take a right good sum to 
tempt the old man to repeat it, for he says: " I is got no rheumatiz, 
an' I ain't gwine in dar for dat thing to git holt a me; nor I ain't." 
His case is a rare one, though, and we don't know whether he is full 
of el ectricity or devoid of it. 

A lady from South Carolina came to the Rock for treatment. She 
was badly afflicted with rheumatism. She took the electricity so 
well that in a few days she was well enough to return home. Her 
friends met her at the depot with a carriage. She informed them 
that she could walk, and to their utter astonishment she stepped out 
of the train and walked with perfect ease to her residence. 

Prof. J. R. Blake, Sr., of Greenwood, S. C, recently visited the 
resort, and gives the result of his observations in the following- 
extract from the Greenwood Tribune: 

^' The curative value of the place for some diseases is very remark- 
able. Rheumatism, dyspepsia, paralysis, and some forms of nerv- 
ousness, were signally relieved in individuals coming under my per- 
sonal observation. One young man from McCormick, S. C, who 
had been prostrated for seventeen months by deranged digestion, 
was cured thoroughly, gaining eighteen pounds in a month. An 
elderly gentleman from Peniield, Ga., who had been partially par- 
alyzed on one side for eight years, arrived at the Rock in the same 
hack with myself. His right hand was disabled, and he walked 
with great difficulty when he arrived, but after six days in the electric- 
room could write letters to his family, and he walked with compar- 
ative ease about the grounds. Many such cases are reported by 
reliable persons familiar with the history of the place. 

" Now, as to the remedial agencies at work in effecting these won- 
derful cures, I must speak with more caution. A very common 
impression prevailing at a distance is that the relief afforded partakes 



39 

of the nature of the " faith cures/' of which we hear so much ; but 
no one can remain long at the place without being convinced 
that this hypothesis is indefensible. The prevailing theory among 
the visitors at the Eock is that the effect is produced from elec- 
tricity derived from the walls and floor of the room. To test 
this behef in some practical form, I made the following experiment: 
Two No. 16 copper wires, each twelve feet long, were inserted into 
the Avails at opposite corners of the shaft. In the absence of a scien- 
tific galvanometer, I introduced into the circuit of these wires several 
of the most equable and self-poised patients who were present, to 
see if they could detect any current from the wall through the wires. 
Six persons were introduced in succession, and all except one claimed 
to feel in the wires the same tingling sensations which they derived 
directly from the wall. Of course, excited imagination and nervous 
irritability are unknown quantities which cannot be eliminated from 
this problem so long as the human system is employed in its solu- 
tion, but it is scarcely creditable that so many reliable and sober 
persons would be mistaken in identifying the sensation derived from 
the wires with the sensation given by the walls. 

'' There is much difficulty still remaining in this problem as to the 
origin of the electricity, the irregular, fitful way in which it acts, 
and many other points suggested by the abnormal conditions of the 
case." 

ABOUT DYNAMOS — IS EQUALLY APPLICABLE TO THE "ROCKS THAT SHOCK." 

Electric-light men are never troubled with rheumatism, says a 
local paper. The stifi-jointed portion of humanity hover around the 
big dynamos in the Brush light company's works just like con- 
sumptives seek a slaughter-house for the blood of a freshly-killed 
bullock. " Why, people would be lying around our dynamos all 
day if we permitted it," said Superintendent Law. The discussion 
upon the subject of electricity as a curative agent in certain chronic 
cases — notably rheumatism — has excited much interest among elec- 



40 

triciaus and all classes of workmen engaged in handling heavily 
charged wires, i^umerous cases are cited in diflerent parts of the 
country to prove that men engaged in these employments are free 
from all rheumatic and neuralgic troubles. This appears to be the 
.case in Philadelphia also. 

Superintendent Law is ready to debate the question with the best 
informed doctor in the land. Eight years ago, when he first began 
to work around dynamos in San Francisco, he was afflicted with 
acute rheumatism. His fingers were twisted out of all natural shape 
and proportion by the insidious disease, and the joints were swollen 
to many times their natural size. His shoulders, hips, and knees 
were similarly affected, and he was, as he expressed it himself, so 
stiff that he could scarcely move. He soon began to improve, how- 
ever, when he came in close contact with the dynamos, and although 
he was not cured immediately, his recovery was sure and rapid, and 
in less than eighteen months he was apparentl}^ a well man. He has 
had no recurrence of the trouble, and is convinced that the cure can 
be credited to nothing but the wonderful influence of the strong 
current of electricity with which he has constantly been surrounded 
for years. 

Mr. Law speaks of a portion of his experience as rather in the 
nature of heroic treatment. He has been knocked down time out 
of mind by coming in contact, either through his own carelessness 
or by accident, with two wires, and on one occasion remained un- 
conscious for ten minutes. The shock upon that occasion, he says, 
felt to him as though he had been hit in the neck by a sand bag. 
He was rather surprised to find himself still alive when he came to 
his senses. If life could be taken in that wa^^ Mr. Law thinks it 
would be the most humane method of executing criminals. He 
suffered no pain from the shock except when he was burned, but 
he thinks it effectually banished the rheumatism. — Electrical World. 



CHAPTER VL 
A Third Visit to Hillman, Ga. 

"We left Eichmoncl, Ya. , several days before the holidays. We came 
on the Coast Line, much to our discomfort, for our JN'orthern brethren 
were ahead of us and engaged every section in the sleepers, 
and we had to travel all night as best we could — now and then nap- 
ping on our seat. The crow of the chicken cock at Florence had 
an unusual cheery sound, for we knew with the rising sun we would 
be nearing the good city of Augusta, where we would give up the 
tiresome seat of the railroad car for more comfortable quarters. 

It is a noticeable fact that the Coast Line seems to be a favorite 
route for ]N"ortherners coming South for the winter. We chatted 
with some on this trip, and found them pleasant and communicative. 
A nice-looking, old lady from Saratoga, E". Y., told me that she and 
her husband had been spending their winters in Florida for the last 
twenty- one years. She told us a good many were on the same train 
then bound for Florida. Another lady, from Jersey City, said she 
was then recovering from a prolonged attack of La Grrippe, and fear- 
ing consumption would follow, her physician advised her to go 
South, as he had been cured by spending several months at Aiken, 
S. C. A gentleman said he had been cured of throat trouble by 
spending the winter in Augusta, Ga. Another said since he had 
made his home in the South he had recovered from asthma and 
other throat troubles. Some affirm that the fragrant odor of the 
piney groves in the South, and the use of the needle or straw that 
grows on the pine tree, was a great aid in their recovery from pul- 



42 

monary troubles by sleeping on pillows stuffed with the pine needles. 
These Southern pines emit a most pleasant odor, which is more and 
more powerful as the summer advances, and is delightful to most 
people. We heard a very effusive and affectionate expression from 
a distinguished lady of Chat'tanooga, while riding through a pretty 
piney grove at Hillman. She said: Oh, these delightful pines; how 
I do love them. I feel as if I could caress every one of them. 

We reached Augusta in due time, and after refreshments and a 
short rest seated ourselves in the nice coach of the popular Georgia 
railroad, and soon arrived at Hillman, where we anticipated spend- 
ing the holidays. We found some pleasant parties at the hotel with 
the same intention : a gentleman, with his whole family, from Bos- 
ton, some from Michigan, I^ew York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the 
Carolinas, and Tennessee. We found others than invalids enjoying 
the peculiarities of Hillman. The climate is mild and bracing in 
winter; cool and breezy in summer. 

They say no blizzards or cyclones has ever yet touched the tops 
of these majestic hills, whose elevation is such that the lights of two 
cities (Washington and Sharon) can be seen in the distance. We 
will mention these towns later on, and return to the hotel and 
guests. 

The hotel is a forty-four-room house, modern in its construction 
and conveniences ; electric bell in each room ; open fire-places 
and wood fires ; bath rooms on each floor, provided with hot and 
cold water. In addition to several mineral waters, they have an 
abundant supply of freestone water. The hotel is on an elevation 
of 600 feet above the sea level, and the following as to temperature 
is taken from the United States Meteorological Records of the Smith- 
sonian Institute, Washington, D. C. : 



43 

Mean temperature, for 15 successive years, for Spring months 61.15 

Summer *' 75.74 

Autumn " 60.77 

" Winter " 46.06 

We liked the family from Boston, and were glad to see the invalid 
daughter rapidly recovering from rhumatism and heart trouble. 

Her parents said she could not stand the snows of the !N"orth; that 
whenever it snowed she suffered more intensel}^ They were also 
alarmed about her heart, as five home physicians had pronounced 
her heart organically diseased. But after remaining at Hillman five 
or six weeks, the heart trouble, as well as the rhumatism, seemed 
cured. The Hillman doctor disagreed with the Boston doctors in 
regard to its being a case of organic heart disease, as she could take 
rapid exercise up and down the mountain avenue, after a few weeks' 
stay, with ease and comfort. Several cases similar to this have been 
reported here, which proves not to be heart disease, but the national 
disease — dyspepsia. 

Another case of interest to us was that of a delicate widow lady, 
who told us she had witnessed a cyclone in the South, and before 
she recovered entirely from its effect she witnessed another at the 
North, which brought on nervous prostration. She improved greatly, 
and was delighted with the "Rocks that Shock." 

We found our hostess busy preparing for Christmas, and the young 
ladies from Boston assisting her in turning out handsome embossed 
cakes, home-made candies, and other delicacies of the season. But 
what we enjoyed most was the nice brown turkey, home-made sau- 
sage, and the fresh country butter and vegetables brought in by the 
country neighbors, who find a ready market for their merchandise 
at Hillman. 



44 

One of the most striking cases we saw here was Mrs. C. and her 
wonderful susceptibility to electricity. It was mainly her great en- 
thusiasm over the Electric Eock that caused her husband to sell out 
and come to Hillman to reside, knowing the place was a perfect 
panacea for all the ills of his wife. 

First, she w^as confined to her room from nervous prostration, 
brought on by a severe burn. She was not able to walk one step 
when she was brought to Hillman, and after a few days' treatment 
in the electric-room she could walk as well as ever, and remained 
well and hearty for twelve months, w^hen a similar accident occurred 
(a scald from hot coffee on her arm at the breakfast table). Again she 
was prostrated, and had to be brought to Hillman, with the same 
happy results. She had scarcely been at Hillman a year when she 
sustained severe injuries from a railroad wreck, and was not able to 
move herself in bed. She was carried to the electric-room, and in 
one day's treatment (which is nothing but sitting or lying on a cot 
in the electric room) she was fully restored. She told us with tears 
in her eyes how grateful she was to her Heavenly Father for such 
a blessing as the Electric Eock. 

We spent the holidays here very pleasantly, and meanwhile we 
were quite diverted in witnessing the quaint way the colored people 
of the far South have of celebrating the Christmas holidays on the 
great cotton plantations. 

Mr. Hillman's farm consists of about twentv-five hundred acres 
of fertile and well-timbered land. He has a number of tenants, or 
croppers, as they are called here, all in comfortable quarters. They 
all called him " boss," from the oldest to the youngest. The old 
heads whom we saw here this winter of 1890 keep up their style of 
calling on the ^' Boss " every first day of Christmas with their kindly 



45 

greetings and compliments of the season. One old fellow, who has 
lived with the Boss for many years, called to have his say : ^' De 
Lord is done spared us to see another Christmas day. Boss, and we 
done see de ole year most out. May we all live through de one dat 
is comin' in, an' many mo' ; an' when we come to lay down an' die, 
we will fole our arms 'cross our peaceful breast, an' go home to dat 
shinnin' globe whar we trust we will lib forever." 

They seem mostly to enjoy Christmas in rather a religious way. 
Some sit up Christmas -Eve night and watch for the dawn of Christ- 
mas day, and also watch the old year out and the new one in with 
singing and prayer. A quartette came up and sang some of their 
sacred songs for us, which were quite symphonious and pathetic, as 
they sing well. We will give an idea of the quaint wording of their 
sacred songs, such as — 

If you want to see the heavenly scene 
You must lay your head in Jordan's stream. 
Chorus : 
Ship of Zion, bear me over. Lord, 
I am bound to cross bold Jordan 
In dat mornin'. 
Another was — 

Little Davy, play on your harp of a thousand strings. 
Another — 

March on, dese bones er mine ; 
. I am gwine to heaven 
In de mornin. 

With others equally as original. 

" THE SUN DO SHOUT." 

These same colored people declared to us that the sun rose up 
shouting every Christmas morning. 



46 

" How does it shout ? " we asked. 

" Oil, it jess jumps up an' down, up an' down, an' flutters as it 
never does any other mornin'." 

" Ah, we guess it is all imagination on your part," we replied. 

" Well, ef you don't bleve us, you jess look out for yourself next 
Christmas mornin'." 

But we are digressing. We are not through with the pleasant 
visitors we met here. One we especially wish to mention, Mr. Wm. 
Whitehead, who was a general favorite, with his genial, pleasant 
way and witty good nature. Whenever he was present everybody 
felt in better humor with themselves and their neighbors. He was 
among the first to come and get cured of the rheumatism in his foot 
and ankle, and had no return of the trouble in three years, and 
when the second attack set in he came, and was cured again. Some 
of his good friends at Hillman said, while they did not want him 
to suffer, yet really they would like for him to have an excuse to 
come often. Colonel James Whitehead, his nephew, came, and was 
much benefited, while recovering from a spell of fever; and Dr. 
Whitehead, from Waynesboro, Ga., was crjred of rheumatic gout 
on a recent visit to the Eock. It seems to run in the family of these 
good people to be clever, and prepossessing in appearance and kind 
in spirit. The Doctor gave the Eock due credit for curing his lame 
foot. 

One of the most rapid cures we remember was that of Mr. Jake 
Allen, of Warrenton. He just came down to spend the day, he 
said ; took his seat by the Eock, read his paper till dinner, went to din- 
ner, came back, spent the afternoon, and, to his own great astonish- 
ment, rose out of his bed next morning sound and well of rheuma- 
tism, and no exposure since has brought on a recurrence. 



47 

Another gentleman, Mr. Seals, from Barnett, came for treatment 
as a last resort, for, said he, " I have tried nearly everything, and 
now I will try this." He said he had been to the water-cure estab- 
lishment in Atlanta and spent a great deal of money without deriv- 
ing any benefit. From the first day's treatment he commenced im- 
proving, and we never saw any one so proud of his final recovery. 

Among other distinguished visitors to the rock was Rev. Dr. Spin- 
ning, of !New York, who was broken completely down from arduous 
pastoral duties. His nerves were so shattered that his wife would 
not allow any correspondence to pass through his hands. In this 
condition he came to Hillman, accompanied by his wife, and in four 
or five weeks' treatment by the " Rock " he was sufficiently cured to 
return home, and was soon permanently well and filling his pulpit in 
his usual elegant style. 

Just one other marvellous cure we will mention that was made 
here just a few days ago. A man was brought to the Rock in a 
buggy to be treated for rheumatism of a very severe kind, and was 
unable to walk. A week's treatment cured him, and now he is 
attending to his farm as usual. Many other cases I might mention, 
but I may as well do like Sam Weller, "drop off suddenly, to make 
'em want to hear more." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NEAREST TOWNS TO HILLMAN, GA. 

We visited some of the nearest towns or villages while sojourning 
at Hillman. 

CRAWFORDVILLE, 

the county seat of Taliaferro county, is a place of some consider- 
able note as being the home of the great Georgia statesman, Alex- 
ander H. Stephens. It is only eight miles from Hillman, on the 
Georgia railroad, with churches, schools, manufactories, a news- 
paper, &c. " Liberty Hall," the home of Mr. Stephens, is situated 
in the midst of this town. It is a pretty place, with large grounds 
and nicely laid-off walks. The large white residence, with its lib- 
eral and unusually wide halls and verandas, is of much interest to 
visitors. We were met and kindly shown through the house by 
Prof. Sanford, of the " Stephens High School." It was a common 
yet uncommon sight; the plain, common-place furniture standing 
as it stood the day Mr. Stephens died, in this inconspicuous room of 
so conspicuous a statesman. 

On the bed was a plain white spread, with plain pillow and cases, 
all draped in mourning yet for the master of "Liberty Hall" and 
the master of superior statecraft; two small tables, on one of which 
still stands the drop-light, just as he left it; two antiquated desks, 
an old-fashioned wardrobe, old bureau and lookiug-glass, and a few 
steel engravings on the wall, pretty much completes the furniture of 
this memorial room. Alongside of his bed stands the small single 
bed of his faithful body-servant, Harry, who lifted him from bed to 



49 

chair and from Liberty Hall to the halls of Congress, and among the 
last to lift him into the grave. It is said he was greatly attached to 
'Harry, and when on reaching home from Congress he would often 
be met at the train by many of his warm-hearted friends, who in- 
sisted on lifting him from the car to the carriage, he would beg them 
to stand aside and let Harry lift him. 

Harry was with him on his way to Atlanta to take the gubernato- 
rial chair, and also a poor tramp who had come the night before to 
ask Mr. Stephens to get him a job. On seeing the tramp with the 
distinguished party, a gentleman asked Harry who that was they had 
along with them. " That's Marse Alec's tramp," said Harry. ^'Marse 
Alec is better to dogs than some men is to folks." 

Everyone, in speaking of him to us, said he was the most generous 
and kind-hearted man they ever knew. Especially to young men 
just starting out in life would he lend a willing ear and helping 
hand. Mr. Stephens left Harry well provided for, with a good house 
and several acres of land, which we are told are now in the possession 
of Harry's widow. 

As we passed out from Liberty Hall and walked down the wide, 
white walk that lead to the front entrance, we stopped and viewed, 
on the right of us, about midway from the house to the gate, the 
grave of this illustrious man. He has no monument yet, only a sim- 
ple railing and two rows of brick surrounding the sacred mound, 
and on the mound a few sweet violets are growing. 

We passed the old homestead of Mr. Stephens' father, who lies 
buried near the public road that leads from Hillman to Crawford- 
ville. 

WASHINGTON, GA., 

is eleven miles from Hillman, and is the terminus of the Wash- 



50 '^ 

ington branch of the Georgia railroad. It is an old and aristocratic 
town — said to be one hundred years old. It has about four thou- 
sand inhabitants, some of them very enterprising and moneyed 
people, who take great pride in keeping their city up with the 
modern improvements of the day, such as street-cars, electric-lights, 
telephones, &C. Colonel James A. Benson resides here, and is the 
owner of the Electric Mound Hotel and other valuable property at 
Hillman. He is engaged in an extensive mercantile business in this 
famous town, and also owns several farms in the adjacent counties. 
Being contiguous to Washington is a great addition to Hillman. 
The patients and visitors find it really a pleasant little trip going up 
on the 10 o'clock train and returning on the 5 o'clock train the same 
day. We frequently see them making these visits on pleasant days 
from Hillman to Washington. Sometimes they go shopping, or to 
visit the fine " Mary Willis " library, and sometimes to the theatre 
or ball. Washington is well known to have been the home of the 
late Robert Toombs, and this alone makes it of marked interest to 
the world. His residence is now owned by Colonel Frank H. Col- 
ley, a very prominent young lawyer, who married a Miss Toombs. 
He and his interesting family reside in this notable, grand old 
homestead. * 

Of Robert Toombs, the invincible ; the brilliant orator and proud 
statesman ; of noble birth and lordly mien ; a tower of strength 
and strong will in the he^^day of his life ; soft and tender of heart in 
his declining years, much has been said. And everything con- 
nected with him seems of unusual interest. Even the reminiscences 
of an old gray-haired colored man whom we saw at Hillman was ot 
much interest. We asked if he knew General Toombs. " Did I 
know Marse Robert Toombs ? 'Deed I did ; 'pears to me I see him 



51 

now, coming down the road wid two great big horses hitched to his 
buggy, gwine on down to Baker county, whar he owned 'bout three 
thousand acres o' land. When he was coming on back something 
broke 'bout his buggy. I was standing close by de road in de cotton 
field, an' I seed the buggy stop, an' I ranned up an fixed it all right. 
Den I seed him put his hand in his pocket, and I thought he was 
going to give me fifty cents, but, my Lord ! he took out a five-dol- 
lar note and flung it at me, an' 'fore I knowed it dem horses had 
dashed oft" wid him 'fore I could say 'thankee, sar.' Ah, Lord ! he 
was de richest man anywheres 'bout here. He kept his waitman 
George dressed as fine as Marse Robert hissef, an' a gold watch on 
same as hisen. He gin his cook 'oman a house an' lot, too, 'fore he 
died. He was mighty good whar he took a liken, an' he was rich 
ernuff to do jess like he please. Many a time is I been herd de train 
whoop fore de regular time for it to come out, an' I used to look out 
to see who was in it, an' dar wouldn't be a blessed soul in dar but 
Marse Robert, an he was gwine on to Atlanta or Augusta, one or 
tother. Den I said, Yas, he got so much money he done spen dat 
fifty dollars for de extra train to take him out to Barnett, so he can 
make room to put down another fifty dollars." 

The noble citizens of Washington, Georgia, ordered a monument 
from Italy, which was shipwrecked on the ocean and lost. They 
ordered another, which arrived safely, and was erected over his 
grave in the pretty little cemetery of his native city. 



is a small, pretty town, three miles from Hillman, on the Washing- 
ton branch of the Georgia railroad. Here live several well-to-do 
merchants. Among the wealthiest we count Messrs Edward Croke, 



52 

James Keudrick, and L. A. Moore. The people are quite progres- 
sive and literary, with several good schools and churches. The 
Catholic church and convent are handsome buildings. 

Sharon is quite an emporium for cotton, and we often see the long 
depot ladened with bales ready for shipping during cotton-picking 
time, which continues from August until the last of December. 

"Ah! cotton-picking time in Georgia!" What a happy time it 
is for the picker. What pictures crowd his fond imagination of the 
good time to follow the picking of " dat cotton." How independent 
and happy the picker looks in the snowy fields. How gaily he 
sings as he snatches the fleecy staple from the bolls to the basket, 
and from the basket to the barn, to be bound into bales. Then the 
bales are bought, and the greenbacks abound. 

Somebody has said " Cotton is king." The author of that trite 
old saying might reverse it, and say '' Cotton has many kings.'' 

RAYTOWN, GA., 

is in ^Ye miles of Hillman, with a goodly number of inhabitants and 
several stores. It has some old landmarks of good and noble fami- 
lies who have passed " over the river." Among them was an uncle 
of Alexander H. Stephens — Mr. Grier, the founder of the well-known 
"Grier Almanac." People who remember him say he greatly 
assisted and encouraged his nephew (Mr. Stephens) on his first 
launching out in life as a young lawyer. 

BARNETT, GA. 

This little station and town on the Georgia railroad, between Au- 
gusta and Atlanta, is about seven miles from Hillman, and has a tel- 



53 

egraph office (as also Sharon, Ga.), stores, and depot. Passengers 
from Augusta, Atlanta, and other points get off at this station and 
take the Washington branch of the Georgia railroad for Sharon, 
Hillman, and Washington. 

FICKLIX, GA., 

another station worthy of mention, is three miles from Hillman, on 
the Washington branch of the Georgia railroad. 

SANDY CROSS 

is a little over a mile from Hillman, on the west end of Mr. Hill- 
man's plantation. It is called "Sandy Cross" on account of two 
public roads crossing there. It is a pretty place and quite a village, 
with several buildings and fine water, and admirably arranged to 
build or start a town. Dr. J. A. Rhodes, a prominent young physi- 
cian, resides here and may be considered a resident physician of 
Hillman. 

SOCIAL HALL 

is the family homestead of the Hillmans. Rev. Joseph Hillman, 
father of Rev, A. L. Hillman, lived and died in this house. It is a 
large two-story building, with ten or twelve rooms, with large veran- 
das. It is not quite a mile from the Electric Rock, and is now rented 
for the year by Mr. William L. Jackson for a boarding-house. 

There is another boarding-house at Hillman, owned by Mrs. 
Jennie Sims, within a few hundred yards of the Electric Rock. 

Rev. A. L. Hillman and family live about a mile from the Electric 
Rock, on a high knoll, nearly covered with white flint rocks and 



54 

pebbles. These, with the piue and oak grove and other pretty sur- 
roundings, give his place a picturesque appearance. 

MOUNT MONTEIRO 

is the name of a beautiful elevation near the Electric Rock. It is a 
magnificent site for a hotel, commanding as it does so many fine 
views of the surrounding country, with hills and dales, roads and 
residences, out in the distance, and well-wooded with pines and oaks 
intermingled over this pretty little mount. Monteiro, when inter- 
preted, means "Sacred Mountain." 

BUYING LOTS. 

In riding over this remarkable place we saw many desirable spots 
to build on, and it occurred to us what an inducement it must be to 
make a home here and derive the benefits of the fine mineral waters 
combined with the virtue of the Electric Rock. When the world 
becomes fully aware of its great worth, no doubt Hillman will be 
rapidly populated. Various parties have alreadj' bought lots ; some 
have built and made their homes here ; while others have availed 
themselves of the opportunity to speculate. We selected a very 
pretty site and will locate here, and will always be glad to see our 
genial friends whom we have met at this Mecca of America, where 
standeth in greatness and grandeur the "Rocks that Shock." 

May not Edison, the world-renowned scientist, probe deep into 
these mysterious batteries of Nature and solve, if possible, their 
hidden virtues? 



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JANUARY I, 1891. 

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OF :isrE"\x7" iropS-K:. 
ASSETS OVER - - - $10,500,000. 

Thirty-one Years in Existence, Issues the most Desirable forms 
of Life and Endowment Policies, 

Sonnd, Conservative, Liberal, 

ADDRESS OR CALL ON 

Manager for Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, 

No. 1203 East Main Street, - - ■ Richmond, Va. 

HABLISTON & BROTHER 

905 Main Street. 

FDRHITURE • 

Of every Description. All the Latest and most 
Popular Styles. 






EMULSIOH GOD'LIVER OIL 

) FOR ( 

Colds, Conghs, and Bronchial Throat and Lnng Troubles. 

Prepared from the best Norwegian Oil and combined with the hypophosphites of 
lime and soda. Take only that prepared by 



PURCELL, LADD &. CO., 



323 E. Broad St., Cor. Fourth, Richmond, Va. 

FURNITURE, 

Mattresses, Carpets, and UPHOI^SXHRHD Ooods. Steam 
Featlier Renovating: and Carpet Clea^ning: a Specialty. 

PROMPT ATTENTION TO MAIL ORDERS. 



ORGANIZED AND CHARTERED 1832. 



Half a Century in Active Operation. - - Insures Against Fire and Liglitning. 
ASSETS, - - - $625,000.00. 

VIRGINIA FIRE AND MARINE 

Insurance Company, of Richmond, Va. 

This OLD VIRGINIA INSTITUTION issues a short and comprehensive Policy, free of 

petty restrictions and liberal in its terms and conditions. All descriptions of property in 

Country and Town, private or public, insured at fair rates, on accommodating terms. 

AGENCIES IN EVERY TOWN AND COUNTY. 



DIRECTORS: Wm. H. Palmer, E. 0. Molting, 6. W. Allen, E. B. Addison, Thos. 

Potts, D. 0. Davis, Dr. F. T. Willis. 

WM. H. PALMER, Pres't. W. H. MCCARTHY, Sec'y. S. McG. FISHER, Asst. Sec'y. 



J. L HILL PRINTING GO . 

PrinteFS, Binders, Engravers 

Nos. 9-11-13 N. Twelfth Street, 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



j^^Our best attention given to*out-of-town orders. . Correspondence invited. 

PUBLISHERS OF ' 

DANIEL'S ORATION ON JEFFERSON DA VIS. 

OUR DISTINGUISHED FELLOW- CITIZEN 

_- . )^ i 

THOMAS'S BLANKS FOR WRITTEN SPELLING. 

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND SHENANDOAH VALLEY 

(By Bruce). 



JACKSON BRANDT I CO., 

Real Estate and Irisarance Agents 

AND BROKERS, 

1006 E. Main Street, . ■ Richmond, Va. 
INVESTMENTS MADE FOR NON-RESIDENTS. 



Parties who contemplate investing or locating in Eicbraond should 

address us, as we have the finest list of business and residence 

property in the city. Correspondence solicited. 

JOHN BOWERS, 
Yo. 7 Governor Street, - Richmond, Fa,, 

COOme Al HEATffl} STATES, 

-ot'Air Furnaces, Latrohe Stoves, Oil Cooking 
Stoves f Slate and Wood Mantels, Tile 
Hearths, Gas and Oil Chandeliers, 
Brass Goods, and House- 
Furnishing Goods. 

REFRIGERATORS. 



yi~^ 



Great 
f^etnedyl 




EBUXJDl 



eoDtains no mercury or other in- 
jurious substance, but is a specific 
for all diseases arising from an 
impure state of the blood, such 

Scrofula, Erysipelas, 

Cancer, Tumors, 

Chronic Sores, 

Boils, Blotches, 



Mercurial Affections, 

Enlarged Joints, &:c» 



These 



People 



What they are talking about wheo tfaey 

endorse 

A. B. C. AI^XKRATIVE 

AS THE 

Greatest Blood Purifier Known. 

H. A. McCurdj, of Quarles & 
McCurdj, Eichmond, Va. writes : 
" I have used your A. B. C. AL- 
TERATIVE for Blood Poison and 
Catarrh, and have been greatly 
benefited thereby." 

R. E. L. Tatum, Washington, 
D. C, writes : '*I have used your 
A. B. C. ALTERATIVE with the 
most beneficial results." 

Mrs. C. L. Leake, Licking P. O., ^ 
Goochland county, Va., writes :i 
'' I take great pleasure in recom-v 
mending your wonderful medi-; 
cine." 

These are only a few; some of th 
others are in our " Treatise on the^ 
Blood." Write for it—free. A. B.^ 
C. ALTERATIVE sold every- 
where for Jl.OO per bottle, or six 
for $5.00, or will be sent by ex- 
press. Address 

A. B. C. CHEMICAL CO., 
P. O. Box 921. Richmond, Va. 




014 496 993 5 



